How the Whiskey Industry Saved the Family Farm | The Story of Colorado Malting Company

The Whiskey Film - Season 1 Chapter 1 - Heirloom Grains. The Story of Colorado Malting Company
Chapter 1 - Heirloom Grains. Where does the story of American whiskey begin?
90 years ago, is where the story begins. A young family travels south, to the arid, sage brush-ridden San Luis Valley on the border of southern Colorado, and northern New Mexico. A young man, “Pappy” Ray Coody, Coody broke barren soil with his young family, and settled on this undeveloped, wild land, to turn into a family farm as a part of FDR’s New Deal to help lift the United States out of the Great Depression.
The story of whiskey is a story of time. How time changes us, and our character. Memories and great whiskey are all we have as relics of the past.
For Wayne Cody, his memories go back several generations. Now a fifth-generation family farm that has changed much in the last century, Wayne has both memories of his grandfather who settled his land, and now has new memories of being a grandparent, watching his kids, and his kids’ kids operate the Cody family farm.
“It was the whiskey industry that saved the family farm.” Josh Cody
Whiskey is a value-added farming product. When the price of commodities and feed barley is controlled by the government, farmers are forced to be tenacious, use their grit, and find a way to close the gap. Or face losing family’s way of life.
Colorado Malting Company was a way for the Cody family to add value and control the price of their grain, to sell to local brewers and distillers. After years of tremendously hard work, they were just to hang it up, when Laws Whiskey House, founded by Al Laws out of Denver, Colorado called to see if the Codys could in fact, and where, a local malting company, long before “craft’ malt began its rise to popularity. Laws required such a scale, well, let’s leave the story there, so you enjoy the story told by the family who has lived in, for more than 90 years on the same dirt….
Growing authenticity | Colorado Malting Company
Alamosa, Colorado
www.coloradomaltingcompany.com
www.cofarmbeer...
Traverse Cinema Studio presents The Whiskey Film, a visual collective of tales about those who work to define whiskey -- as well as themselves, -- as they explore their craft. The key concept is that change occurs over time, not only in the whiskey itself but also in the lives of those who create it. Like the spirit in the distilling process, whiskey makers change under the pressures of their lives and within the context of their craft.
Season One | Told in chapter episodic form, The Whiskey Film’s characters illustrate the key influences of a great whiskey; roots, art, science, agriculture, aging, passion, tradition, focus, branding, education, and patience.
www.thewhiskeyfilm.com
Instagram @ Traverse Cinema Studio
Writer and Director - Thomas Kolicko
Producer - Thomas Kolicko
Co-Producer - Kristen Olson
Cinematographer - Brendan Harris
Editor - Jazmine DiGiorgio
Camera Assistant - Hunter Neilbum
Production Coordinator - Stacey Fronek
Production Assistant - Justin Davis
Assistant Editors - Kevin Deming, Hunter Neilbum, Christopher Riggs
Camera - Sony A7sII
Lens - Helios 44-2 + Canon 24-105 F4 + Canon 17-35 F4
Filtration - PolarPro VND 2 - 5 Stop
This has been a Traverse Cinema Studio LLC production
Written and Directed by Thomas Kolicko
Copyright 2023 - Traverse Cinema Studio LLC
All Rights Reserved

[@tbbfilm]

Beautiful and vital story! Hope this series gets the audience it deserves. Wonderful work!!

[@traversecinemastudio]

Thank you so much! cheers!! Feel free to share the series, it helps us out.